Barbara Kingsolver: The Lacuna

Ms. Kingsolver’s thirteenth and latest novel, The Lacuna, has hit shelves, and its publicity campaign is full speed ahead.

It’s her least favorite part of the writing process. Though reportedly animated and engaging during interviews, Kingsolver shies away from limelight. She told The Age, an Australia-based publication,

”I’m much too shy to be a public person. But I think shyness goes with writing. I am the person standing by the wall, watching the person who is dancing with the lampshade on his head, and I am taking it all in and wondering, ‘What happened to him? I bet his mother didn’t love him.”

Writer’s tip: Observe your own environment shrewdly. Your eye for detail will transfer to your writing.

In that same interview, Kingsolver shares her views on novel writing, which must center around a big idea. That big idea may take years to incubate. She explains,

“It’s an audacious act to create something that you are going to ask people to take into their lives. It requires a degree of reverence. It also requires a lot from me… so I want to make sure it’s a big idea that I think is very important, that I think is worth my time and, more importantly, worth yours.”

Writer’s tip: Write about big ideas. Anything less is a waste of time.